Notes
Richard Maxwell Hanson was born in London on 21 May 1920, the only son of Beatrice (née Heald) and Lieutenant Colonel John Hanson OBE, a chartered accountant. He was educated at Imperial Service College, Windsor (now part of Haileybury) from 1933 to 1938, where he was a house captain, a school prefect, and captain of the 1st Cricket XI and the 1st Rugby XV. He entered Worcester College on 7 October 1938, but left without taking a degree.
Richard Hanson attended the 170th Officer Cadet Training Unit before being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Gordon Highlanders on 1 February 1941. He transferred to the Royal Artillery with the same rank on 18 December 1941, and transferred to the Gilder Pilot Regiment on 4 March 1942. On 9 July 1943 the Allies began Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, with the dropping of paratroopers supported by glider borne infantry. Richard Hanson was one of the gilder pilots and took off with his crew member and three men of the 2nd (Airborne) Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment on board. After being released by the tug aircraft, the glider was forced to ditch in the sea. Lieutenant Richard Hanson insisted that the other men take the available life belts, and was drowned while attempting to swim to shore. He was 23 years old.
Richard Hanson is commemorated on the Cassino Memorial, and on the war memorials at Imperial Service College, and at Worcester College, Oxford.